1 Corinthians 1:10–15, 26–29; 3:1–4

Bible Studies for Life
Associate professor of divinity, Beeson Divinity School, Samford University

When Members Won’t Get Along
1 Corinthians 1:10–15, 26–29; 3:1–4

Misplaced Loyalties (1:10–15)
The ancient poet Horace said this of the Romans: “They are absurd slaves to fame, a people stupefied by titles and masks.” Unfortunately the apostle Paul’s first epistle to the church at Corinth only confirms the accuracy of Horace’s assessment. Here they were spiritually gifted converts to Jesus Christ, members of the body of Christ, the Church, set within a divinely created and eternal siblinghood, the family of God meant to reflect the love of God displayed and enacted in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on the cross. Here they were the blood-bought objects of mercy and grace, not celebrating the extraordinary circumstance of their adoption into the family of God but jockeying for position, hankering after spots in emerging cliques sporting the names of the spiritual superstars — Paul himself, Apollos, Cephas (Simon Peter) and even Jesus.

Human Pride (1:26–29)
But what is so wrong with such comparison and competition between the followers of Jesus Christ? Might not such attachment to the various spiritual superstars evidence just the kind of spiritual ambition that leads to spiritual maturity and achievement? According to Paul, no, it cannot. And the reason Paul gave can be captured in two words — the cross.

Attempts to follow or please or benefit from association with the Lord Jesus Christ must reflect the path along which His own Lordship manifested itself, namely along the path of humble service and sacrificial love, not spiritual one-upmanship and slavish pursuit of status. But the Corinthian believers remained so sunk in the decadent culture of their fair city that they could not see the shocking contrast between what they said they were — spiritually gifted followers of the crucified Lord and Savior — and how they behaved.

Unconsciously the Corinthian believers drug into the church the culture of their proud city, not realizing its utter incompatibility with the values that must prevail where the Lord they worshiped willingly died on a cross in order to make them the children of God. Corinth was an unusual city even in its own day, facilitating an economic and social upward mobility rare in the ancient world. It was a city that rewarded the go-getters of that day.

The Corinthians and we must learn that within the Church headed by the Crucified One, maturity proceeds downward. He who exalts himself will be put down, and he who humbles himself (as Jesus did) will be exalted. Love, not pride, is the characteristic mark of the family of God.

Spiritual Immaturity (3:1–4)
Paul acknowledged the exceptional spiritual giftedness that prevailed within the church at Corinth. Yet, in the hands of these Corinthian believers, rather than serving to transform the church into a relational reflection of its Lord characterized by humility and sacrificial love, these undeserved, divinely bestowed gifts have been converted into tools for personal ambition, resulting in unseemly boasting, envy and strife. They thought they could draw closer to the top where Jesus abides by climbing over the heads of their brothers and sisters.

But Jesus is not up there; is He? Where can their Lord be found? Not strutting on an exalted perch above others, but girded with a towel to wash the disciples’ feet on His way to a cross to suffer and die for His enemies, namely, us. Within the Church, the upward path is, first of all, a downward path.

We may not live in Corinth, but, like those first followers of Jesus from that ancient metropolis, we come to our Savior and Lord out of a culture that inculcates and rewards the very same behaviors and aspirations that were poisoning the church Paul addressed. God’s word for us matches Paul’s admonitions to those Corinthian believers: The values of this fallen and doomed world are incompatible with the values of the kingdom of God.

What wins applause in the world is not welcome within the Church of the crucified and risen Savior whose name we have appropriated to ourselves. Where envy and strife took root among the prideful and the status hungry, now humility and love must take hold and grow.